Just for the Fun of It
"WHO IS BURIED in Grant's tomb?" Groucho Marx asked losers on his quiz program. Some didn't know. We know a guy who, as a kid, flew Control Line in front of it. His is quite a story. John Morrill, this is your modeling life. With a few-years-older neighbor, Gerald Turner, you built your first model airplane during the mid-Forties. You still don't know why you fell in love with the hobby, but you did. That perplexes you when you look back on a steady string of failures to get any models to fly. Both of you lived in Burlington, VT, and you deeply wished for a teacher, or at least a contest to attend. Then you moved to New York, where your dad went to graduate school. For a kid used to open fields and country life, this move seemed to be a disaster. You lived close to Grant's Tomb on upper Riverside Dr. in New York.
Just for the Fun of It
OVER THE RAINBOW. This month, everyone is in an escape mood. With the teasing fade-out of Indian Summer and the present chill breezes, the hibernation and "building season" is upon us. I have been hounded (desist!) for months by guys wanting Pronto plans (MAN, 1972). And for you guys who went Purple Plan I nuts, the composer just rewrote the music. If you wish to be reborn, not rekitted, pick a simple project. There must be danged near 200 pieces in the wing of my old Rookie. Clue: Total pieces, divided by days, equals pieces per day (which equates with total time). If your eyes are bigger than your stomach, you'll end up with a "Dolor de la Cabesa" (sorrow of the head). In 110 days, I have a rough frame-well, almost! Escape? Right now.
Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
AS JACKIE GLEASON used to say, "How sweet it is!" My flying is in the African-drought stage, but nice things rain like manna from Heaven. I've Purple Planned my way through an exciting Electric model (motor on cabin bulkhead, prop speed reduction, long extension shaft, and a big folding prop), and I am gnawing my way through that incredible Kadet Senior. The latter is a novel approach to a trainer if you like big airplanes that can fly like a Free Flight and that offer the fun (for blokes like me, as well) of gluing together Old-Timer-like sticks. For me, it is a fun thing, and I don't need a trainer. I'm trying a strange spoiler combination on it. In and out as usual, but . . . a switch allows me to use them individually (no ailerons on the Senior). While doing so I can have proportional openings, and if I wish I can "CAR" (cross control) them with the rudder in that mode.
Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD. The PA system blasted the Light Horse Cavalry Overture as Continental's 727 leaned into its California leg out of the Denver hub. Do they do this in the West these days? A Continental gimmick? It was an iron bird in human terms. Cross that goal line, leap that hurdle, lift that bale. Rotation! The music stopped. Clapping of hands, cheers. Seat belts prevented a standing ovation. Touch-down at Ontario. On came the overture to reach its wild climax as the magic carpet turned onto the taxiway. Encore! Super. Is there a ghostly 727 making music as it endlessly crisscrosses the snowy peaks?
Just for the Fun of It: Plane Talk
Left: You like? Parasol romance is displayed in John Boyd's .25 O.S. Max IIDFIAS II, an enlarged version of his Enya .09 model featured in Winter's September 1983 column. Span is 66 1/4 in. for 615 sq. in. of area. Thermals nicely with average glides of about 10 min., and occasional forays around 20 min. Also inverts (glide too) from half outside loop entry. Right: Structural design and framing of Boyd's parasol are picture perfect. The more one studies it, the more impressive it becomes. Winter thinks it would be profane to change a single piece. Left: This Gentle Lady belongs to Craig Thompson and belies his age of 15. It flies like a dream on two channels with or without the pod. It's covered with blue, trans. red, and trans. yellow MonoKote. Without pod he thinks he gets 50 ft. hand-launched, gets 5 min. consistently with pod. Right: Craig's friend, Matt Bishup (age 13), is shown with his HOB Two Tee right after launch. Such gliders are an easy way to learn to fly.
